Elections
and Thyroidectomy
In the last
two weeks we’ve gained a surprising, controversial president-elect and I’ve
lost a thyroid. What could these two
things have to do with each other? Well,
the whole process has been a real pain in the neck! But convalescing leads to reading or watching
various news items between old movies that bring comfort. Funny, the phrase that has caught my
attention is “Love Trumps Hate.” This is
an ironic saying coming from folks who are beating those that disagree with
them. It is even more bizarre that these
same folks are longing for safe places as they block traffic, vandalize
personal property, and burn things – like our flag.
In the words
of the immortal Indigo Montoya of Princess
Bride fame, “I don’t think that word means what you think it means.”
I thought to
myself – I must not know what this phrase means. It must be code or something for throwing a
tantrum when one doesn’t get one’s way.
So, I looked
it up. It is supposed to mean that love
conquers hate – is better than or wins over hate. Of course, it was one of Hilary Clinton’s
campaign slogans implying that a vote for Mr. Trump would be a vote for
hate. What is meant by “love” apparently
is acceptance of all peoples, races, ethnicities, genders, opinions, religions,
and sexual orientations, countries without borders, building bridges etc… – not
merely acceptance, but embracing, supporting, praising and paying for the same. Anyone who disagrees with this definition of
love or attempts to put some limits on it will not be tolerated and will be
labeled a variety of -ists.
This begs
the question. What is love, really?
This is what
I read this morning:
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have
love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all
mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove
mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my
body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
The Greeks
had four words for love. The one in this
chapter is agape, defined as a sacrificial, giving, absorbing kind of love. The
word has little to do with emotion; it has much to do with self-denial for the
sake of another.**
As DC Talk
used to rap, Love is a Verb.
It is a motivating force that must be spiritually gained and continually appraised.
What the
Apostle Paul is saying in this introduction to love is that we can have all the
gifts, power of persuasion, empowerment, knowledge, and good deeds anyone could
want, but if it is not motivated by agape love it is meaningless. And he was talking to believers.
Which causes
me to think that being a believer doesn’t necessarily mean we always have this
motivation.
Then he goes
on to describe what this kind of love looks like, so we would know it when we
saw it.
Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not
brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own,
is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice
in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Wow. Have we seen this - certainly not in
politics, how about the church?
Now this is read
at weddings, but it is not romantic, not really. It is not a hearts and flowers kind of love. We
can put our own name in the place of ‘love’ to see how we measure up; it
will be revealing, but not all that edifying.
This is a ‘rubber
meets the road’ kind of love. This is an
‘everyday stuck in traffic going to the same lousy job’ kind of love. This is ‘my health, my beloved, my kids, my
relationships aren’t all that great’ kind of love. This is a ‘walking worthy’ kind of love
(Colossians 1:10). And we’re told this kind
of love never fails.
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there
are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
Not only does it never fail, but nothing else really matters.
Jesus is our
living example of this kind of love. We
can’t say we haven’t seen anyone live it out.
Therefore be imitators of God, as
beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave
Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, as a fragrant aroma (Ephesians
5:1-2).
We have a
high calling, a responsibility to a deceived, troubled and angry world.
For we know in part and we prophecy in part; but when the perfect
comes, the partial will be done away.
When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child,
reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then
face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also
have been fully known.
We have
chosen many foolish ways, but someday everyone will know the Truth when they
see Him.
But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of
these is love (1 Corinthians 13).
Our world
doesn’t know what love is. They can’t
define it correctly. We believers have a
lot of work ahead of us. If we don’t
embody it - dwell in it, they are not going to know what it looks like.
When they finally see Him, it will be too late for many of them.
** http://biblehub.com/commentaries/guzik/commentaries/4613.htm
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